


Red Zayn

by SaharaSeasOwl



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Colors, Louis owns a pot shop, M/M, Soulmate AU, Teachers, art!Zayn, author!Harry, english!Liam, you see your soulmate's aura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-09-27 23:59:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10057847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaharaSeasOwl/pseuds/SaharaSeasOwl
Summary: A Soulmate AU loosely inspired by the song Colors by Halsey.Liam sees a dash of red out of the corner of his eye…Liam doesn’t have a soulmate. He’s going on 30 and he does not have a soulmate. He thinks he’s fairly fit for 30. It’s not surprising really, he doesn’t like to play into the whole “aura” thing, he wants to find his soulmate organically. In a world full of “find your soulmate” reality TV and game shows, Liam wanted to go a different path, so he takes illegal blockers. Until he doesn’t anymore.





	1. Red Zayn

Liam doesn’t have a soulmate. He’s going on 30 and he does not have a soulmate. He thinks he’s fairly fit for 30. It’s not surprising really, he doesn’t like to play into the whole “aura” thing, he wants to find his soulmate organically. In a world full of “find your soulmate” reality TV and game shows, Liam wanted to go a different path, so he takes illegal blockers. Until he doesn’t anymore. 

 

_30ish years ago (Harry's perspective)  
“Congratulations! It’s a boy!” The rooms 928 and 929 echoed each other. Another baby was rolled into the nursery, healthy, green hat and all. His carriage sat next to an older baby by mere minutes, healthy, blue hat and all. The new baby enjoyed the contrast between the pretty color of the hat and the glow around the other baby. He didn’t yet know the colors names, but they were pleasant to look at. The older baby smiled- or maybe just had gas- at the new one almost immediately and reached through the carriage holes for the other baby. The new baby reached through his side of the carriage and the babies touched briefly, only as much as their new little arms could muster. When the nurse made the rounds back to those two babies she noticed the faintest of glows around both babies. The soulmate connection…_

 

Well, that’s the town gossip and it’s been 30 years. Their touch was probably an accident, but it no doubt bonded them for life. A thought Liam snickered at. Louis and Harry had been his friends since they met in high school. Their families were close because of the early soulmates things, they lived right next door to each other and down the street from Liam. 

 

“Harry where’s my red striped tie??” Liam yelled across the house. Liam met up at Harry and Louis’ to catch the train to their educational conference. Harry and Liam taught in the English department while Louis ran his own medical marijuana dispensary called PewPew!

“Pretty sure I threw it out last time you left it here. It clashed with the couch.” Louis said in passing, on his way to help his boyfriend “tie his shoes.” 

Liam groaned. “What the fuck.” He said to an already gone Louis. He wandered to Harry and Louis’ room and started going through his ties. Fucker. He thought and took the one that looked the most expensive, a deep purple one. 

“Liam I’m leaving you here!” Harry called from the main room.  
“Coming!” Liam’s hands tied his tie with 10 years of experience ingrained into them, checked to make sure the knot was straight, and rushed downstairs. 

Louis and Harry were engaged in a long embrace, Liam rolled his eyes. 

“We’re leaving for two days Louis!! And the train leaves in 20 minutes!” Liam gave him a pat on the back and grabbed his bag. He watched the couple kiss for a good thirty seconds before he cleared his throat. 

“Harryyyy. You yelled for me.” He groaned. 

They finally broke apart and Harry picked up his bag. “I’m ready, I’m ready Lima Bean jesus.” He joked and finally headed out the door. “See you Louis. Have fun with your drugs.” Liam teased and hugged him briefly before stepping out with Harry.  
Louis’ business was something they all liked to joke about because it had been an impulse decision- and Louis ended up loving it.

Once they were on the train Liam finally relaxed and loosened his-Louis’- tie a little bit.  
“Stressed?” 

Harry asked with a raised brow, sipping the tea he had ordered the minute they put their bags away. Liam chewed his lower lip and looked out the window. 

“No. Just a little nervous.” Liam admitted after a few seconds.

Harry looked interested immediately. He was always for a break in the mundane life that Liam loved. And Liam never admitted to being anything but happy or sad at any given time- emotions weren’t really his strong suit. 

“I left my blockers at home.” Liam half smiled. 

Harry’s eyes widened, 

“...On purpose?” Harry said, intrigued. 

“Yup. I figured...I would celebrate maybe? I think… this conference is important.” Liam trailed off and looked at Harry who nodded.

“Yeah, It’s international…” He said thoughtfully. Liam had always been uninterested in finding his soulmate (“What are the chances my soulmate lives in Wolverhampton, Harry!). Liam had started taking blockers after his 20th birthday, when everyone he knew had found their soulmates. It was enough to make Liam not want to be frustrated trying to find..whoever it was. He thought that if he was on the blockers than made his aura invisible, and made it so he couldn’t see anyone’s, it would make life easier. He started to despise all of the soulmate stuff, hated seeing matching couples. The blockers allowed him to pretend that life was normal. But this educational conference was one of the biggest, inviting educators around the world to share experiences and tips. Harry had been invited to answer questions about his newly published book, Liam was there for moral support, or so Harry had thought.

“So I’m just giving it a shot.” Liam said and focused back on the window, swallowing. 

Harry smiled into his tea and continued reading his book and glancing at Liam every few minutes. The conference wasn’t too far away from the town they lived in outside of London. Harry waited until the second to last stop before commenting on Liam’s situation again. 

 

“So...How long until the blockers are out of your system?” He asked curiously. 

“I didn’t take mine yesterday in preparation…” Liam tried not to make a face at the word, making the process seem clinical, when Liam was just trying to increase his chances. 

“So by tonight…” Liam trailed off. He didn’t want to get his hopes up that he might actually meet his soulmate. 

Harry smiled again, really glad Liam was giving the soulmate search a genuine try again. He had stopped after the last “experiment” as Harry likes to call them, three years ago and Harry still didn’t know the whole story. 

After they checked into the hotel Harry elected to take a nap, citing having a “rough night” which was code for “Louis kept me up all night.” Liam wandered around with the ice bucket, down a couple of wrong hallways before finding it across from the pool.

There was a man already there, looking frustrated with the ice machine, pushing the button over and over again, but with no ice falling into his waiting bucket. 

“Hey man, maybe it’s upset that you’re pressing it’s buttons?” Liam joked half-heartedly. The man turned around and giggled. Liam smirked a little bit.

“Yeah probably,” A deeper voice than he expected came from the smaller man. It was heavy with a Northern British accent. 

The man had shiny black hair styled into a little twirl at the front, with some pieces finding their way out of the neatly styled hair. He had a slim figure accentuated by the all black suit and shirt he was wearing. His eyes were a darker brown than Liam’s and were outlined strikingly by thick black lashes. Liam cleared his throat and tried not to stare. 

“Are you here for the conference?” Liam questioned, he didn’t fail to notice how the black suit really “suited” The ice man. And his purple striped tie too. The man nodded and tried the ice machine one more time. 

“How about you….?” The man seemed to want a name, so Liam supplied one. 

“Mr. Payne.” He held out his hand. “Well, that’s what the students call me. Everyone else calls me Liam.” Ice man chuckled and took his hand. 

“Zayn.” Zayn looked up at the figure in front of him. He was probably one of the only art teachers at this conference, and didn’t expect to see anyone from the conference at this cheaper hotel. Liam’s suit didn’t match the class of the hotel...neither did he. Zayn tried not to let his eyes wander over the man's larger figure and he shook his hand. Liam’s cool gray suit made Zayn want to focus on Liam’s warm brown eyes, and the way his lips moved when he smirked…

“Huh?” Zayn shook his head, realizing the man in front of him had tried to ask him a question. Liam laughed  
.  
“Wow. Finally I met someone that’s as out of it as I am at these things.” he said. Zayn blushed a little, embarrassed and amused.  
“What are you here for?” Liam repeated patiently. 

“Yeah...I’m here for art and the vacation days, what about you?” Zayn leaned against the machine, ice all but forgotten. 

“English...well...I’m here for a friend but I guess I could pick up a few things. And of course having a few days off work is never a bad thing.” Liam smiled at Zayn then shrugged and fiddled with the ice bucket. 

A friend… Zayn thought with dismay then shook his head. 

“What?” Liam asked. 

“Uh. Nothing. I like your tie.” Zayn noticed they matched. Liam chuckled. “Thanks. It’s a friend’s. Damn I shouldn’t have said that, I should’ve just let you believe all of my ties are this nice.” Liam joked.  
Zayn laughed. “Are you trying to impress me?”

“N-no. I just. You probably picked yours because the purple went well with your hair and you know that because you’re so into art and I just randomly put this on it doesn’t even look that good.” Liam rambled. Zayn was amused by how easily this giant man could be flustered, turning him into a little puppy with those eyes. Zayn put his hand on Liam’s shoulder to reassure him. 

“It looks great.” Liam stopped rambling and looked right into Zayn’s eyes.

There was a moment of tension as Zayn realized he had moved closer while touching Liam's shoulder. 

“You think the purple looks good with my hair?” Zayn giggled to break the tension, subtly sliding his hand off Liam. They both immediately missed the touch.  
He looked down nervously.  
“Yeah…” This time it was Liam’s turn to blush. “But not like in a creepy way, I know we just met but I just think it looks good-” Liam started to ramble again before Zayn interrupted. 

“I should go...maybe there’s another machine that works.” Zayn really wanted to stay to talk to Liam but the other man was clearly flustered and Zayn needed a smoke. He looked at Liam’s eyes one more time.

“See you at the conference….Mr. Payne.” Zayn winked and left the ice room. The way Zayn said his name made a shiver run through Liam. He already wanted to seen him again. Hopefully very soon. He thought. He tried the ice maker, being met with a loud frustrated hum then a violent dump of ice into the bucket.


	2. Blue Liam

Liam came back to the room with his overflowing ice bucket whistling. Harry had woken up and started getting refreshed for the first night’s event.

“Where were you Liam? Did you have to make the ice yourself?” Harry joked. 

“Nope. I did meet someone though.” Liam smiled. 

“What did you have a quickie up against the ice machine??”

“No Harry! We just...talked. It was nice...he was nice. His name was Zayn…” Liam thought back on how pretty Zayn’s purple tie looked with his black hair. 

“What did you talk about?” Harry asked

“I um. I just told him his hair looked good with his tie.” Liam gulped, damn his awkwardness.  
Harry giggled “Riveting Liam really.” 

He looked at his watch. “We have about an hour until this conference starts. How’s it going?”

Liam shrugged. “That’s the worst part...I won’t know until- if - I see him.” He sighed. Everyone Liam knew was curious about his aura, old wives tales believed that a person’s entire personality could be explained by whatever color their soul aura was. Louis was blue, or so they predicted at the hospital- usually soulmates are able to talk before they meet and can find out what color they are. Harry was thought to be green. Together everyone, if they weren’t on blockers, could see the light blue-green (tealish) aura that emanated from around the couple, stronger when they were together, but still noticeable on their own. 

“Him?” The taller man asked

Liam shrugged again. “I’m starting to have that feeling. Which could be something but I don’t know for sure…” Liam had forgotten how overwhelming coming off blockers was, it was like they dulled all his senses. 

Harry practically squealed and hugged his friend tightly. “I’m so excited!!! We have to have some kind of signal! To let me know when you find him!”

Liam sighed and pried Harry off him. “I don’t want to talk about it that way. I don’t want to get my hopes up. This soulmate stuff could be bullshit anyway.” 

Liam withdrew after that and Harry got the hint not to push, choosing to call Louis and update him on Liam’s status. 

_What if they don’t even like me? What if my aura is their least favorite color? What if they don’t even notice me- or they do and don’t say anything???_ Liam held his head in his hands and groaned. This was exactly why he hated the soulmate connection shit, everyone worried too much about finding their soulmate and not enough on finding love, in Liam’s opinion. 

Liam went in the bathroom and ran a hand through his hair. Brown, long on top, short on the sides, styled into a cute quiff. His suit stretched across his broad shoulders. When he was a teenager he had been scrawny and small, but had quite developed into his 20's and looked even better by almost 30, a certain maturity and confidence had settled into every feature, including the way he carried himself. He would be lying if he said he didn’t think he looked good. He straightened his tie for the millionth time then went outside to meet Harry. If he was going to meet his soulmate tonight he was as prepared as he ever would be. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The conference was massively crowded, there were booths and tables as far as the eye could see, as well as people filling in almost every available space, and more spilling in from the front doors. Liam did a quick nervous scan, still unsure of exactly what he would see when his blockers wore off. People had told him he would just know, it would be obvious, but after 30 unsuccessful years, Liam wasn’t so sure he hadn’t bumped into his soulmate and just not realized it. 

Harry pulled on his elbow. “My talk is at 8 okay? In the big room we passed earlier. Meet there, I’m off to mingle!” Harry also shot him a serious look that said let me know what happens or else.

Liam chuckled and watched him go. Harry had always been the better speaker, and writer, and Liam was happy to learn from him. He noticed a group of teachers standing by what looked like a section on writing and English, so he went to talk to them.

Zayn arrived about an hour later and was immediately overwhelmed by everything. Nothing seemed tailored to the arts, except for small booths here and there about how to beg your school board for more funding. After browsing those Zayn headed to the back where the cash bar was, this was essentially just playtime for teachers, an excuse to hire a sub for a couple of days, and he would be taking full advantage of it. 

 

When Harry’s Q&A finally rolled around Liam was in the room first, giving him a pep talk. 

“If no one asks any actual insightful questions you will right?” Harry asked worriedly, straightening his notecards on the podium. 

“Of course. I’ll be front and center. Your biggest fan.” Liam grinned and sat in the seat directly in front of the podium to prove his point.  
“No Liam! You look staged! They’ll know. Go sit in some random seat! Preferably not in my line of sight!” Harry groaned.  
“You’ll do fine. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to leave to rejoin with all the other guests, naturally.” Liam bowed and left the room. 

Zayn peeked his head into the biggest conference room clutching his copy of _Authoring Addiction_ his favorite novel analyzing the way authors talked about mental illness and disease in their books and how it affects societal stereotypes. He heard the author was coming to talk about the book and honestly, that was the main reason he was here, he knew the art portion of the conference would be shit, so it was this, and the no work thing. The room had filled up in a matter of minutes, so Zayn slid along the back wall quietly. 

Liam came back to the conference room as Harry entered the stage and quickly sat in a random seat in the middle, joining everyone in applause. Harry smiled. “Welcome…” He began.

Zayn clapped excitedly when Harry came onto the stage but was distracted by the ice machine man coming in, not noticing Zayn in the back. 

Zayn’s eyes widened when Liam joined the crowd and a very distinct aura settled around him. Zayn waited for the aura to move to a different person, or to go away entirely, but it stayed hovering just above Liam’s strong arms, sculpted jaw…. This resplendent glow Zayn had only seen on other people, other couples. A deep blue...blue… Zayn blinked, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. _Mr. Ice Machine Payne was his soulmate???_ Zayn looked around in a panic for the exit and sprinted, making a bit of noise on the way out. Harry smoothed over it in his charming way and Liam glanced toward the back, seeing a dash of red out of the corner of his eye, which quickly he chalked up to the exit sign looming above the door. 

At the book signing after the Q and A, Liam stood off to the side while Zayn hid in the bathroom, torn between going back outside because he really wanted to get his book signed and talk to Harry, and hiding from the reality that he had just spotted his soulmate. And it’s Mr. Payne with his stupid brown eyes...Zayn sighed. He knew Liam hadn’t seen him, but he wondered if he had just missed it when they met in the ice room. _That’s impossible…_ Zayn shook his head. But blockers weren’t uncommon, especially among the “older” crowd, and especially teachers, no one wants to risk the job they spent years working towards to get fired for finding their soulmate amongst students. A large number of people never found their soulmates, marrying whoever they found and fell in love with instead. But the soulmate connection was said to be like nothing else. 

Zayn sighed again in frustration, coming out of his stall. He knew Liam was friends with Harry, knew they were staying at his hotel, so he snuck out the back of the conference hall and went back to his room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“You did amazing Harry! Look, someone even brought you flowers.” Liam said when they got back to their room late that night.  
Harry smiled, reading the card, fondness coming over his eyes. “They’re from Lou.”  
He hugged the card to his chest and Liam felt his deflate slightly. He loved his friends and loved their unique story, but it was hard to be around when Liam felt he had such bad luck. He left Harry yet again for another conversation with Louis. When off blockers he felt especially sensitive, and he felt bad for his withdrawal away from Harry during this entire trip. Luckily Harry understood.  
Liam went down the hallway, past the ice machine room, he didn’t know why except he may have been curious to see if Zayn was up and about. He took a couple of laps around the hotel before giving up and heading back to his room to drown his soulmate sorrows in the mini bar. 

Zayn had been looking over his copy of Harry’s book, debating going to find their room and getting it signed, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Mr. Pay-Liam. He lit the joint he had been waiting all day for and stepped outside the hotel, taking a deep drag before exhaling into the night. He didn’t even know if Liam was staying for the entire conference. It was weird knowing his soulmate’s name. _Leeyum…_ He thought and smiled. It was weird knowing his soulmate’s color, and knowing he could be on the cusp of finding out his own. Zayn was also scared to come face to face with Liam again, knowing he had been on blockers for some reason, maybe something Zayn didn’t want to know. It was weird to have all of the power in his hands, this soulmate shit was crazy. If it weren’t for the draw he felt toward Liam he would have half a mind to leave without a trace, make his own path. But, it was hard to stay away from Liam as is and he hadn’t even really talked to him. He guessed this was why so many people wanted to be with their soulmates almost immediately. There was a weird sort of mental tug toward Liam.  
He continued puffing on the joint and sat down against the wall. 

Harry was still locked in the bathroom talking to Louis, filling him in on every detail of the first day of the conference.  
Liam drank everything in the mini bar and went down to the lobby to get it restocked, taking a swig out of one of the miniature bottles on the way back up to his room, hiccuping and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. He noticed a red glow coming from below his window, felt some kind of draw to go outside and check it out. He stumbled down the stairs, a lot more drunk than he thought he was.  
He smelled weed as he got closer to the glow, then noticed it was Ice man- or Zayn.

“Oi Zayn! Are you aware you are glowing?” He smiled and leaned against the wall. 

Zayn didn’t notice him approaching in the darkness and jumped up. “Shit Liam! You scared me!” His heart was pounding and not only from Liam sneaking up on him.  
_Is Liam...drunk?_ Zayn looked up at his soulmate.  
Liam didn’t seem to realize what he was seeing. “Yeah you must be sitting next to a light or something I came to see.” Liam drunkenly rambled and started looking over the place Zayn had been sitting, following the glow to Zayn’s face where he had a strange expression. 

“What’s up?” Liam giggled, lost in his drunk world. 

Zayn was quiet for several minutes. He hadn’t exactly pictured meeting his soulmate when he was stoned out of his mind and his soulmate was drunk. Liam was entertaining himself with the flower bushes, having sat where Zayn had been against the wall. He looked up cheerily at Zayn. 

Zayn sighed and closed his eyes for a moment before saying  
“You’re blue.” in a voice so quiet Liam barely heard him.  
It took a few seconds for Liam to process what Zayn said, when he did he stood up, suddenly way more sober than before. 

“What? What do you mean I’m blue? Like I’m sad?” Liam rubbed his eyes, trying to force the fog of the alcohol away, the red glow coming off Zayn becoming more and more clear. Zayn smiled softly and shook his head.

“You’re my soulmate Liam…”  
“You’re red.” Liam said at the same time.  
“Red?” Zayn asked and looked down at himself. He couldn’t see anything. He wouldn’t see anything until they touched.  
Zayn reached for Liam’s hand but he pulled back.  
“Is this really happening? I’m meeting my soulmate while I'm stoned. At a hotel. Next to some dumpsters.” Zayn said.  
Liam knew it was absurd but smiled anyway. 

“Well. There’s only one way to find out.” 

He looked at Zayn and stepped closer, cupping the shorter man’s jaw in his hands, blue meeting red and swirling lazily as Zayn raised his lips to Liam’s. It was a kiss like Liam had never experienced before, it felt so right, it didn’t matter than they had only met earlier that day. Liam pressed into the kiss, pinning Zayn against the wall. He had his eyes open, wanting to remember forever what it looked like when two colors, two lives, became one. He saw his blue for the first time when it touched Zayn’s red, morphing into a deep purple not unlike their matching ties from earlier. Zayn pulled away from Liam and opened his eyes to purple. 

“Wow.” They both said at the same time. Liam looked at Zayn, now radiating a beautiful purple Liam would never get tired of looking at. Zayn looked back at Liam, the blue glow around him overtaken by that very same purple. 

The soulmate connection.


	3. Purple

Liam doesn’t remember much of what happened after that, he knows he got back to his room, knocked because he was drunk, and Harry came to the door. He remembers Harry’s strange expression and excitement vaguely before he passed out. He dreamed of Zayn, his Zayn, his purple, saying his name. 

Liam...Liam... 

“LIAM!!” Harry poked him for the upteenth time. “WAKE UP I HAVE WAITED TWELVE HOURS LOUIS IS ON SPEAKER PHONE WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT????”  
Liam grimaced and covered his throbbing head with his pillow. He groaned when Harry poked him again.  
“Please Liam Harry has been in my ear for hours trying to get you up.” He heard Louis’ voice softly out of Harry’s phone. 

He sat up slowly, thankful Harry had left the curtains closed. Harry watched as he gulped a glass of water painfully slow.  
“Liam!” 

“Alright alright what? What? Did I throw up or something?” Liam said, still not remembering much. 

“Or something.” Louis muttered. 

“Liam where did you go last night?” Harry asked, touching Liam’s arm, not used to seeing a glow that was purple. He actually couldn’t think of anyone he knew, of the people that had met their soulmates, had a purple glow, usually they were a swirling of the two people’s auras, not a complete blend of the two colors.

“I went out to refill the minibar. Then..I don’t know…” Liam thought back and felt red hot lips against his ear 

_“I have to go Liam...I’ll see you tomorrow.”_ Zayn had whispered. 

Everything came back to Liam, the lights, the glows, the auras.  
“Shit.” Liam said.  
Harry knelt on the bed as Liam’s face lit up like a lightbulb.  
“But I don’t feel any different…” but that wasn’t entirely true. Liam couldn’t remember the last morning he had woken up and felt excited for something, which was the exact feeling he had now. 

“What happened???” Harry asked impatiently.  
“I think I met my soulmate last night…”  
“Yeah I gathered that Liam you’re fucking glowing purple!!!!”  
“I wish I could see it.” Liam pouted for a moment and touched his neck where he remembers Zayn’s last kiss. Only your soulmate could see your original aura, they only became visible to others when the two had met and touched for the first time. Liam could now see Zayn as purple instead of red.  
“Details Liam. He needs details.” Louis barked out from the phone.  
Liam told Harry almost exactly what happened, leaving out the parts he was fuzzy on because he was drunk. “He was red Harry...and it was perfect. My favorite color has always been red.” Liam gushed.  
Harry was ecstatic to see Liam so happy.  
“Which means you were blue! Awww we’re the same color Lima Bean!” Louis gushed. 

Liam groaned a little jokingly. Then he giggled. “Harry it was the guy from the ice room.” he said slowly. 

“No way!" 

“Yeah, and that was before the blockers were out of my system and we actually connected...Harry it’s like everything I wanted. And I was too drunk to remember it.” He groaned and flopped on the bed face first. He buried his face in a pillow as tears trickled down his face. He felt awful for not remembering every little detail of meeting his soulmate for christ’s sake! Everything felt so overwhelming.  
“Who’s the iceman?” Louis said before Harry took him off speakerphone and said goodbye. 

“Liam...I’m so happy for you.” Harry rubbed his friend’s back. Liam was trying to hide his sobs, it was too much for him to take in in this foreign hotel. He hadn’t expected to actually meet his soulmate, it was just an excuse to stop taking blockers and hope again. Liam drifted off again, still hungover and slept for a few hours. 

Zayn had been pacing his room since morning, he wanted to speak to Liam so badly but didn’t even know the room number of his soulmate. He thought he could probably feel it out- unlike Liam he wasn’t hungover and he felt a lot different. Having a soulmate led to this...sixth sense. He didn’t know what Liam was doing- he just knew he was probably hungover and that he was safe. He could sense his somewhat calming energy somewhere in the hotel.  
Zayn stepped outside his room and ran straight into a bare chest.  
“Ugh. Sorry!” He said and looked up at the long haired man whose shirt was so unbuttoned it was curious as to why he had one on at all. _And oh my god that’s Harry Styles_ , the author of the very book Zayn was holding now. 

Harry gasped. “You! You’re purple!! I-ah...Liam didn’t tell me your name. Oh! Nice choice.” Harry nodded toward the book. 

“Oh uh. I’m Zayn. It’s so great to meet you, your book is my favorite!” Zayn smiled before it turned into a slight grimace when Harry pulled him in for a hug. 

“Oh my god I’m so excited. I’m Harry! Where are you going? I was going back to my room wanna come?” Harry didn’t seem to take no for an answer as he started walking away.  
“Uh...Sure.” Zayn stuttered out, nervous to see Liam now that they were...bonded? And sober. 

"I’ll sign your book when we get there. Though I’m sure we’ll be great friends. Wait till you meet Lou! Wait, where are you from?” Harry asked, already thinking of the double date opportunities he had planned for years. 

Friends. Zayn smiled. 

“Bradford. But I moved to Wolverhampton about three years ago.” Zayn said to Harry who was cracking a wide smile.  
_What are the chances_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

“Oh Liiiiiiaaaam. I brought you something, in addition to breakfast!” Harry sang, throwing his door open and tossing the paper bag at Liam’s bed. 

“What is it?” Liam called from the bathroom then walked out with a towel wrapped tightly around his waist and another he was running through his wet hair. He saw Zayn immediately behind Harry, lit up in purple.  
“Zayn.” He went to him without thinking about it.  
“Liam.” Zayn took in Liam’s appearance and his heart picked up. How could he look so good fresh out of a shower??? Zayn looked like a wet dog. And he couldn’t stop staring at Liam’s bare chest, his strong arms... 

“You’re welcome. I’ll leave you alone now.” Harry winked at Liam who rolled his eyes then grabbed his phone and left the room. 

“Uh...let me get dressed...Have you eaten?” Liam asked.  
“No…” _Please don’t get dressed_ he thought toward Liam’s retreating form.  
When his soulmate reappeared he was wearing a casual brown long sleeved shirt and jeans.  
Zayn ran his hand through his hair self-consciously. It was awkward that his soulmate was so far out of his league. Liam picked up the room service menu and looked up as Zayn toyed with his hair. 

"You look beautiful.” He said without a second thought.  
Zayn blushed. “Sit.” Liam patted the space next to him, not too close but not too far away. Zayn did and Liam handed him the menu, hands brushing. Liam wondered if it was like this for everyone meeting their soulmate. Liam took a chance and took Zayn’s hand in his.  
“Is this okay?” he asked softly. Zayn nodded and a light blush took over his cheeks. 

“Didn’t Harry get you breakfast?” Zayn raised an eyebrow toward the bag at the end of the bed.  
“Yeah, but it’s Harry. He eats like a rabbit and I want real food. I eat like a man.” Liam winked and Zayn could’ve fainted. 

“How did I get so lucky?” Liam smiled at the smaller boy. His shyness was actually a huge turn on for Liam.  
Zayn’s blush deepened. “I think I could ask you the same question…” He quirked an eyebrow and scooted closer to Liam.  
“Do you feel any different than before?” Liam asked and wrapped an arm around his soulmate.  
“Oh yeah. It’s the weirdest thing. I feel like...Like I can’t sense what you’re doing just...like whatever mood you're in and if you’re near me or not...it feels so trippy.  
Do you feel different?” Zayn asked, leaning into his touch. 

“Well...when I first woke up I was hungover. So I felt like shit. But excited shit!” Liam giggled and Zayn thought it was the cutest thing he had ever heard. This big guy that was so strong was really just a giant teddy bear. _His_ teddy bear. 

Liam absentmindedly traced shapes into Zayn’s shoulder, sending shivers down his spine.  
“But now...I think I know what you mean.” Liam looked at Zayn. Zayn glanced down at Liam’s lips and that was all it took for the older man to lean it to softly press them against Zayn’s. He tasted like vanilla and that was suddenly Liam’s favorite flavor. 

Zayn felt his cheeks heating up then it spreading all over his body, with a simple kiss from Liam, this was all so surreal. Liam was totally encompassing. 

“It’s like...You’re another part of me.” Liam whispered against Zayn’s lips.  
“I want to know everything about you.” He said and pulled the younger man into his arms. ‘“Starting with your favorite food!” The bigger man handed Zayn the room service menu. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was just to get them to meet each other when they were both finally sober :) The next chapter will be more about life as soulmates, shit like that.


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is mostly about Liam's life, just to further set things up for future chapters!

After learning that Zayn lived in Wolverhampton, across town, Liam was a little dismayed but mostly amused and excited that he wouldn’t ever be too far from his soulmate. 

Since the conference ended Zayn had been broody. He couldn’t stop thinking about how he could have run into Liam _years_ ago. If he hadn’t been on those damn blockers.  
Blockers weren’t fair to the other soulmate. Zayn was always keeping an eye out for any telltale glow coming from anyone, but Liam had been hidden from him.  
_For what?_  
For fuck’s sake he could have already run into him, he frequented Liam’s side of town quite often as he worked at the nearby community college. Liam’s workplace was probably about 15 minutes from him at the local high school. The schools hosted functions together all the time, hell he had probably met Liam before. Although he definitely knew he would’ve remembered meeting someone like Liam. They could’ve been happy this entire time, 

Zayn sat on the edge of his bed and sighed. A text from Liam buzzed to his phone

**Liam:** What’s your favorite kind of flower?  
Zayn smiled. They had been doing this ever since the conference, randomly texting each other questions, they hadn’t been able to see each other because, being teachers, they were basically busy all the time. Liam had plans for Zayn to come to his place during the weekend and he could hardly wait. 

Zayn texted him back: Roses, obviously, I’m an art teacher :)

**Liam:** I guess as an english teacher my fav should be a daisy then?  
**Zayn:** Yes.  
**Liam:** I want to see you.  
**Zayn:** This weekend….  
**Liam:** Maybe I should rephrase. I need to see you. 

Zayn just picked up the phone to call Liam, who answered on the first ring. 

“Hello there.” Zayn giggled

Liam groaned a little “I’m serious. I can’t stop thinking about you. It feels like my whole day is going wrong because you aren’t here.” 

“I know what you mean…” Zayn only worked a couple of days a week at the community college, working from home the rest of the time, developing lesson plans for other art teachers. 

“I can come visit you at work if you want me to.” Zayn said suddenly. He really did have a lot of work to do and Liam’s side of town wasn’t close. 

“If I leave now we can have lunch.” 

“Yes, yes, a million times yes. If it's not too much for you, that is.” Liam sat in the faculty break room before his second class of the day. He already couldn’t get enough of Zayn, just the thought of his presence sent a calming wave through him.

“No, no. I’ll get ready and drive over there, I’ll just park outside and come find you.” Zayn got up and started gathering his phone and wallet. 

“Should I...bring like clothes and stuff?” Zayn flushed a little. He’d barely even cuddled Liam, let alone slept over. 

“For the weekend? You wanna stay?” Liam sounded so hopeful there was no way Zayn could say no.  
“I mean...If I’m already going to be over there, unless you don’t want me to stay an extra night.” Zayn prayed Liam didn’t say no. That unavoidable draw to Liam was involuntary, he felt like he needed to be with Liam. 

Liam chuckled. “I want you to stay for a lot longer than one extra night, Zayn.” The pair had chatted over coffee and gone to see the new Wolverine movie, which had Liam in tears by the end. Though they had only known each other for a few weeks, every time they went out it was like they had to be touching in some way. Liam was always holding his hand, or stroking hair out of his face. Zayn thought the people around them must know that they’re new soulmates, even his regular barista across town commenting on his new glow. 

Zayn smiled and started gathering his things from around his apartment. It was small, what you would expect from an art student, not a professor. _At a community college. But still._ Zayn wanted to work at the liberal arts college in the state where he would actually have a budget to teach art the way he wanted, but was currently stuck with no budget and barely any classes. The art scene in this town was dead.

“I’ll see you in a few then.” He hung up on Liam.

Liam, on the other hand, loved teaching high school English, sure, he wouldn’t mind becoming a professor, the pay is better and there’s more flexibility. In college, English classes would be filled with people trying to get requirements for their majors, filled with people who actually wanted to be there (what Liam pictured anyway). But there was something about high school classes that kept Liam going. He could be the one that helps students be interested in English in the first place, he could shape their understanding in a positive light. His favorite thing was when a student came back to tell him that he got them interested in writing and reading, when they previously had no interest. And that meant more to him right now. 

Liam went back to his classroom, he had decorated with all the essential cliche posters, but his favorite were the posters of book covers, designed to look like movie posters that he had hung up over the entire back wall of his classroom. 

“So who did the reading?” He asked all of his waiting students, almost half of which groaned.  
“Lovely.” Liam said and grinned. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zayn arrived at the school just after the lunch break had started, he walked in and greeted the receptionist with a smile, signing in rather quickly and asking for Mr. Payne’s room. 

 

“He’s on the second floor, all the way to the back.” The receptionist gave him a warm smile, which Zayn returned.  
He dodged the couples making out all over the hallways and saw a few kids sitting in a classroom at the end. On the door it said Liam Payne, University of Edinburgh, with the little school logo.  
_Edinburgh?_ Zayn thought, _and he’s teaching high school?_

Zayn had gone to Glasgow School of Art, good enough for him, and it hand landed him this job straight after graduation. Zayn was going to go for his doctorate soon, and wanted to move up to a “real school,” as he called them. And god damn he could have met Liam in college, he was a little over an hour away!

“Have you seen Mr. Payne?” Zayn asked the kids, who giggled. 

“Are you Mr. Payne’s soulmate?” One of the girls asked dreamily. 

“Yeah you’re purple like him! He wasn’t glowing at the beginning of the year, but he came back from days off and all of a sudden-”

“So he must have met you.” 

“I didn’t think he was gay.” Another girl whispered to the others, somehow thinking Zayn wouldn’t hear her.

Zayn suddenly felt embarrassed. Did he just out Liam to his class accidentally? Was Liam even out in this town? Zayn felt a little sick, then felt a hand on his lower back. It was warm and immediately comforting.

“Are you guys harassing Zayn?” Liam chuckled deeply. All of the students avoided eye contact. 

“Don’t worry about them.” Liam said quietly to Zayn, he could feel some type of distressed energy coming from Zayn. 

“Guys this is Zayn, he’s my soulmate. I met him at the conference I went to.” Liam said simply then tugged on Zayn’s hand.

“I’m eating in the breakroom, come on. And hey! Don’t go spreading this around you all.” Liam winked at his class then took Zayn down the hall to the break room. 

“I’m so sorry Liam, I didn’t know what to say.” The younger man said quickly.  
Liam looked a little confused. “What? Oh. Zayn.” He smiled softly and cupped Zayn’s chin in his hand. “I wasn’t keeping it from them, they obviously all noticed when I came back, I never heard the end of the Barney jokes. I guess they just weren’t expecting someone so beautiful.” Liam said casually, kissing Zayn’s forehead. 

“Or a guy.” Zayn mumbled, to which Liam shrugged. 

“They’re kids Zayn, they’re a lot more open minded than other people around here. I’m not going to keep you a secret, babe.”

Zayn blushed a little at the nickname. 

“I got some Indian food, I hope you like it.” Liam never ate Indian food, but something compelled him to pick it up before his lunch break.  
Zayn’s face lit up. 

“Wow, I was just craving Indian!”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zayn went to explore the art department after finishing lunch with Liam, looking at the art projects from the year. There was some real talent at this school, and there were the usual ones you could tell didn’t care. 

“You Liam’s soulmate?” A voice behind him asked.  
Zayn whipped around, startled by the noise in the quiet hallway. 

Why was everyone asking? Zayn didn’t want to talk to random strangers about his love life, especially something as personal as a soulmate. One of the downsides to this whole aura thing. 

“Sorry mate. Didn’t mean to scare you.” The woman held out her hand.

“I’m Sophia. I work with Liam in the English department.” She seemed friendly enough, and probably knew Liam better than Zayn did. 

Zayn shook her hand and nodded. “Cool. And yes, to answer your question.”

Sophia smiled mischievously. “Wanna see pictures of him when he first started teaching here?”

Zayn giggled. “Why? Are they bad?”

“The peak of 90s fashion, to be honest.” Sophia laughed too. 

“He’s been here since the 90s??” Wasn’t he only like barely 30??

Sophia only laughed harder. 

“No, but his fashion sense has if you know what I mean. Come on!” She took Zayn’s arm and led him back to the English department, her classroom was a few down from Liam’s. He could see Liam finishing his lecture through the window in his door. His arms were revealed by his shirt sleeves, which were rolled up, using one of them to point at something on the whiteboard. He was definitely the sexiest teacher Zayn had ever seen. 

Sophia sat down at her desk and pulled a photo album out of the drawer. It was filled with school-related pictures of different classrooms and people throughout the years. She flipped for a minute before cackling loudly again. 

“Here it is! Look at those jeans!” She handed the book to Zayn.  
Liam was standing proudly in front of his, presumably, new classroom. He had much less muscle mass than he had now, buzzed off hair, and no beard. And Zayn still thought he was amazingly attractive. He had on these acid wash mom jeans with a yellow polo shirt tucked into it. 

“Wow. He used to look so different!” Zayn exclaimed and giggled a little. Liam would always been attractive to him, the outfit on the other hand…

“Hideous, right? No wonder he didn’t find his soulmate until now.” Sophia said jokingly.

Zayn frowned and looked at the floor. He would’ve definitely been attracted to Liam at the time in the picture, but as he looked at it he figured Liam had probably been on blockers when it was taken. He could’ve met Liam. He couldn't help but hold this disappointment inside him, but he knew Liam wasn't purposefully avoiding _him_ but it still hurt.

“Ooo. Sorry, sensitive topic?” Sophia asked softly, taking the book out of Zayn’s hand to find a different picture.  
Zayn just nodded then shrugged. 

“God Soph what are you doing to my poor boyfriend?” Liam groaned dramatically and leaned against the doorframe.  
Zayn turned and beamed at him, boyfriend? They hadn’t technically discussed that but, what else were they supposed to be?

“I’m doing my duty as your former best friend in filling in your...Zayn, on all of your fashion faux pas.”  
Liam groaned again and walked over to the back of Zayn’s chair, resting his hands lightly on Zayn’s shoulders. 

“Hi.” Liam leaned down and whispered against Zayn’s ear, then kissed his cheek, inciting a light blush from the younger man, he wasn’t used to Liam’s confidence and wasn’t sure this wasn’t some elaborate prank. 

“Ew Liam not at work!” Sophia teased, throwing a balled up paper at him.

Liam looked at her then planted a kiss right on Zayn’s lips, which he returned eagerly.

“Don’t you have a class?” Zayn asked quietly, ignoring the second ew! From Sophia.  
“Perks of being an English teacher, you can tell them to read when you don’t want to do anything.”  
Liam winked.

“Anyway, I saw you two come in here and I wanted to stop any shenanigans before Sophia started them but it looks like I was too late.” Liam glared at the photobook. 

Zayn giggled. “You should wear mom jeans more often.” 

“It was casual Friday!!! Soph! Stop showing everyone that picture!” Liam groaned. He had definitely developed a better style since beginning his career. He wore fitted black trousers and a purple button up, with the sleeves rolled up, revealing the many tattoos he had gotten over the course of the years. When he was feeling extra fancy, or had an important meeting he wore a tie. 

“You look great.” Zayn squeezed his arm.  
“You are either blind or lying.” Liam joked  
“Well, I’m an artist so…”  
“Must be lying then.” Liam kissed his cheek and smiled. 

“I’ll catch up with you in an hour.” The older teacher left to go back to his room, not without looking at Zayn for another time.  
Sophia whistled

“I’ve never seen Liam come out of his room in the middle of class…”  
Zayn smiled shyly again, and Sophia proceeded to show him pictures of Liam with his first ever class, looking just as dorky, but so excited. 

“Why has he stayed here so long? I saw his degree…”  
Sophia nodded knowingly. “Yeah, I asked myself the same thing when he started working here. I told him he could have any teaching job he wanted, he keeps telling me he really likes it here.” She shrugged.

“Hmm.” Zayn wishes he had that sort of degree, didn’t even want to be at the college he was, but here, in some random high school, Liam felt happy and fulfilled. Maybe he had a lot to learn from his soulmate.

He and Sophia chatted back and forth for a few more minutes before she had to leave, mostly about Liam, though every time Sophia mentioned one of his quirks (“He always pours too much coffee and ends up tipping some of it in the sink. Always!”), he felt a pang of...something. Jealousy?

 

Meanwhile, Liam wondered what Sophia was saying to Zayn. He couldn’t tell what exactly Zayn was  
feeling, but he seemed slightly distressed and it distracted Liam. He called two kids by the wrong name, and skipped someone when passing out homework. 

“And..um...read to Chapter 8 tonight and I’ll see you all tomorrow.” Liam announced, and before he was even done every student was out of his room. 

Liam gathered his things, shut his classroom and all that and went to collect Zayn, who was sitting in the hallway since Sophia had left. He was sketching intently, Liam just watched him chew on his lower lip as the pencil glided across the paper. He was so cute, he was _his_.  
Zayn looked up suddenly at Liam staring fondly at him. 

“Can I help you?” Zayn asked and blushed a little, then stood up. 

Liam came over to him and leaned on the wall. “Yes. You can come home with me.” He winked and stroked Zayn’s cheek, a touch the younger man leaned into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will really dive into the plot and more details and all that, I just like to get the scene really set up before, plus they just met so I wanted to give appropriate time for them to be getting used to each other. Thanks for reading!


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit happens

When they arrived at Liam’s house for the weekend Zayn was beyond nervous. Sure, he could tell he got along with Liam, and there was clear attraction between them, but he was still afraid he wouldn’t be what Liam wanted, what he had waited so long for. 

Liam picked up on Zayn’s nervousness. 

“Do you wanna watch those old Spider-man movies?” He asked, taking Zayn’s hand, admiring the glow that became one around their joined hands. Liam led Zayn through the door.   
“Sure! Except obviously not the third one.” Zayn giggled.

“That’s my boy.” Liam joked and kissed his forehead

“You can make yourself at home, mi casa es su casa.”

“How many Spanish classes did you take for that?” Zayn teased. 

Liam gasped, “I’m offended. Only three.” He winked  
 _If he doesn’t stop winking at me I think I’ll die._

Liam went to the kitchen to get them some drinks, and when he returned he had a more serious   
look on his face. 

 

“What did Sophia say to you?” He handed Zayn his glass and moved to put the movie in.

Zayn shrugged. “We talked about you mostly. Why?”

Liam returned the shrug. “I dunno. I could just...feel something. When you guys were talking...like you didn’t feel good.” Liam seemed genuinely troubled. 

“Oh...you felt that?” Zayn frowned a little. How interesting. 

 

“I was just...like....a little jealous because she knows so much about you…” 

 

“Oh shit Zayn. That’s what happens when you work with someone as nosy as Sophia for as long as   
I have.” Liam giggled a little and handed Zayn his glass, sitting back down beside him. 

“So you guys never...had a thing?” the younger man asked shyly. 

Liam laughed loudly. 

 

“No thank you. I’ve been gay as long as I can remember.” 

 

Zayn giggled. “It’s almost like you’re born that way.” He snuggled up to his boyfriend’s side and admired the way their glow would go from being individual to around them as a couple. 

As soon as Zayn got comfy the doorbell rang and he groaned loudly. 

“That must be Harry. I told him he could come pick up some of my old lesson plans as ‘research’ for his new book.” Liam shrugged and answered the door. 

 

“Payno what up!” A familiar voice echoed from the doorway. Was that?

 

“Louis!” Liam fist bumped the man and let him in. Harry followed with a huge stack of papers and   
more in his bag. 

“Harry did you bring your entire collection?” Liam asked as Zayn appeared in the doorway. 

 

“Louis!” Zayn screamed and tackled the short man.

 

“You know each other?” Harry and Liam asked at the same time, watching their soulmates wrestle   
around on the floor. 

Zayn was finally able to get the upperhand and straddled Louis, pinning him to the ground. 

“Yeah we went to high school together. Did you get your pot shop up and running??” Zayn asked   
and pointed at Louis’ _PewPew!_ shop shirt. 

“Yes! Did you get your art studio up and running?” Louis asked Zayn who shrugged then shook his head. 

 

“I’m a teacher now.”

 

“You? Zayn Malik? A teacher?” Louis feigned shock. 

“Shut up! I can’t believe you named your shop after that stupid video we filmed in high school   
man.” 

“I wanted you to know the one.” Louis teased. 

“So...you guys are friends?” Liam asked and raised an eyebrow. 

Louis nodded from where he was pinned under Zayn. 

 

“Ya.” Louis suddenly kicked Zayn off and stood up. 

 

“So you’ve met my famous author soulmate Harold right Z?” Louis reached up and patted Harry’s head playfully. 

 

“Yeah...he’s kind of the reason Liam and I met.” Zayn said and got up, brushing himself off. 

“Ooo Harold do tell.” Louis nudged him. 

Liam frowned a little amongst all the commotion and stared at the counter. Zayn and Louis were high school buddies…Liam met Louis his senior year skipping the same classes. 

“You went to St. Anne’s.” Liam said, not as a question but a statement. 

Zayn nodded and looked a little taken aback by the interruption. “Li are you ok?” 

“What year?”

“I graduated in 2005.” Zayn frowned 

Liam was hard in thought, doing some math. He started taking blockers in high school as soon as   
his first (second I guess, _Louis_ ). friend had found their soulmate, probably his senior year in 2003. 

“Wait here.” Liam said and went upstairs, leaving three very confused men downstairs. Zayn didn’t   
listen and followed him. “Li you’re worrying me what are you doing?” He asked his boyfriend who had started rifling through his closet. He found it physically impossible to ignore Zayn’s questions, probably a feature of his soulmate glow. 

“Looking for something…” He said in passing then “Aha!” He pulled out a book. 

He started flipping through the pages then stumbled upon exactly what he thought he would. There was a picture of a teenaged Zayn, with his name, on the freshman page. 

Zayn inched closer. “Why do you have my old yearbook?” He asked, eyeing his embarrassing ninth grade picture. 

Liam sighed and flipped to the front cover where a bunch of people had written shit like “Have a good summer Payne!” and “Good luck at college! Don’t give them too much of a Payne.”

“Wait.” Zayn looked it over then grabbed the book. 

“I went to St. Anne’s.” Liam said and flipped to the junior page for Zayn. 

Zayn found his soulmate’s picture immediately. 

“Were you on blockers then?” 

Liam shook his head. “Nope. I didn’t start taking them until senior year.” 

“Why didn’t we ever meet? That school was so small.” None of it made sense to Zayn at all. He had gone to school with his soulmate for two years and hadn’t noticed? Seemed unlikely, soulmates were destined to find each other, like fate playing a matchmaker, soulmates always happened to be in the same place at the same time. That’s why, out of a hospital full of babies, Louis and Harry happened to be placed next to each other. The universe wanted you to meet your soulmate, it was basic evolution at this point...so why had he and Liam never met?

“We probably did.” Liam said and Zayn felt a pang of something coming from him. Was it anger?

 

“I’m sorry.” Liam sensed the change as soon as Zayn did. “I’m just confused.” 

He had heard of people who didn’t meet their soulmate until later in life like him, but it was always   
because they lived in a different country or something. He had never heard of someone being so close to their soulmate, hell probably knowing them, without their auras finding each other or getting together. Your soulmate aura was something you were born with, always lying hidden to the world until you touched your other half. Then it was like two people becoming one, two souls forever intertwined, it completed you. Until you meet your soulmate, your soul is weak and incomplete, evolution had given way to the aura to make finding your one mate easier. No one really knew, but it was said that before auras, souls would wander and give themselves to the wrong person, causing heartache, depression, and even death. This was why the soulmate bond was so strong, why it made no sense that if Zayn and Liam had been in such close proximity, for so long, why they had never met. 

“Maybe it’s just a fluke or something...Maybe we never saw each other.” Zayn said, also trying to   
convince himself. 

“How is that even possible?” Liam looked back down at the yearbook then started flipping through, looking over every picture intently. 

 

“Why does it matter? We’re together now.” Zayn protested, not wanting to see Liam get worked up over what he brushed off as nothing. 

“Of course Z.” Liam kissed his forehead. “It’s just weird.” 

Liam put the yearbook on the dresser, leaving it on a picture of Liam and Zayn at a winning football game, both standing by the fence, it looked like they were talking. Liam had looked a lot different in high school, and it’s been so long that he didn’t expect either of them to remember the moment, but it was proof that they had met. And that had Liam very worried, he tried not to let Zayn feel it but that was useless. 

Zayn frowned and looked up at him. “Liam, what’s wrong? Is meeting now not enough??” He pulled away. 

“I’m just confused Zayn!”

 

“And it’s my fault somehow? You’re acting weird Liam. Do you not think I’m your soulmate?” 

Zayn’s face crumpled and he left the room. 

Liam sat on his bed and buried his face in his hands. “Fuck.”

Liam could feel Zayn’s distress, it was making it hard for him to sort out his own emotions. What did it mean that they hadn’t had auras in high school? Or was it that they couldn’t see each others? Either way Liam was confused and didn’t know why Zayn wasn’t too. It made him suspicious, but he couldn’t ignore Zayn’s emotions, it was fucking overwhelming. So he went downstairs.   
Zayn was half heartedly chatting with Louis, Harry was in the kitchen doing god know’s what. 

 

“Z can I talk to you?” Liam rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Zayn nodded as if to say, of course, then followed Liam back to his room, making a quick pit stop at the kitchen. 

 

“Hey Harry can you make dinner? Then I’ll get you those lesson plans.” 

 

Harry nodded, deep in thinking over the copy of his book he had laid out before him. 

Liam intertwined his hand with Zayn’s and pulled him into his room, closing the door. He sat on the bed and Zayn settled between his legs, looking down at him. 

 

“I’m sorry baby. You are more than enough for me, you own part of my soul.” Liam looked up at his soulmate and pleaded that he feel better. 

“Just promise me you won’t go poking around with this. We have each other already...and you may find out something that you don’t want to know. Trust me.” Zayn tried to focus on the situation and not the pet name that Liam said with so much love. 

“I promise sweetheart. Forgive me?” Liam lifted Zayn’s shirt and kissed his tummy lightly. Zayn giggled and backed away playfully. 

 

“Not so fast.” Liam smirked and picked Zayn up by his waist, throwing him on the bed and crawling over him, tickling his sides. His soulmate was gorgeous, mind and body, and he didn’t know how he got so lucky. He guessed waiting so long was worth it. Although the high school thing was still tugging in the back of his mind. But if forgetting it would make the gorgeous creature beneath him happy, he would forget it. Probably. 

Zayn laughed uncontrollably “LIAM!...Pleaseeeee!.....Stop” He managed to get out. 

Liam smirked deviously. “Fine.”

He replaced his hands with his lips, kissing up Zayn’s torso until he got to his neck, noting the boy   
squirming under him. “You like that?” He purred in his ear.

“Ah. Liam. Yes. But…” Liam pulled away and looked at him expectantly. 

“What are we?”

“What do you mean?” Liam raised an eyebrow “We’re soulmates, Z.”

“Yeeeah but are we like….boyfriends?” Zayn’s cheeks heated up a little. 

Liam giggled and sat up. “If you want to be.”

 

“You’re going to make me ask?” Zayn buried his face in Liam’s pillow. 

“Zaaaayn. Zayn Malik. Will you be my boyfriend?” Liam whispered in his ear then tickled him again. 

“If you stop!!!!!” Zayn giggled and leaned up to kiss him. Liam stopped immediately and leaned into the kiss. “If you don’t stop.” Liam said breathily. Zayn leaned back in and bit Liam’s lower lip gently. Liam groaned and grabbed Zayn’s hips, pinning him to the bed again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You are so sexy when you’re cooking Harold.” Louis wiggled his eyebrows at his soulmate. 

“You always say that. Especially when there’s food involved.” Harry winked

Liam came down the stairs attempting to fix his hair.

“Wow. That’s the most freshly fucked face I’ve seen since this morning.” Louis joked, earning a   
hard elbow in the side from Harry. 

Liam smiled. “We didn’t do that all the way.” 

 

“TMI Liam.” Harry said, stirring something. 

 

“Smells good Harry, think you can keep it warm for an hour or so?” 

 

“Don’t worry, it won’t be ready for another two. Where are you off to without Zayn?” 

Liam picked up his jacket and keys, slipping on his shoes. “He’s asleep, I’ll be back in a minute. Just going to pick some stuff up.” 

“He should be calling your dick Nyquil!!” Louis giggled toward Liam’s retreating form. 

 

Liam yelled “You totally stole that from Nicki Minaj!” through the door as it swung closed then headed for his car. 

 

“That was weird, right?” Harry asked. 

 

“Liam rushing off somewhere after his first sexual encounter with his soulmate and not telling us where or when he’ll be back? Yes Haz.” Louis reached up and patted his head.

Liam didn’t know what to look for at all, but wanted to get a head start on figuring out this aura thing while Zayn was asleep. It was sneaky, but Liam was absolutely set on telling Zayn as soon as he woke up. If he found anything. He cruised downtown a little, asked around. He knew these kinds of...services were frowned upon and super expensive. Out of nowhere he saw a tiny shop in an alley with a sign that said “AURA ANALYSIS- Who’s your soulmate?” It looked way run down but it was the closest thing Liam could think of. He went in, ringing the little bell above the door, causing a little old lady to appear from the back. She eyed Liam warily. “How can I help you?”

 

Liam smiled politely and glanced around the shop. There were a lot of old fashioned looking books on auras and history. 

“I was wondering if you could read my aura...tell me if you see anything abnormal?” 

The old lady frowned immediately “So you’re telling me you have a soulmate and you’re here questioning evolution? Be happy you have a soulmate you git and get out of my shop!!! Come back if your soulmate dies!” the little old lady said fiercly and practically shoved Liam out of her shop, locking the door behind him. 

 

“What??” Liam called, very confused as to what had just taken place. He knocked on the door. 

 

“Please??” He tried, but with no answer he gave up and went back to his car. The lady seemed like she was analyzing him from the moment he walked in, but had a change of heart and made him leave. What if this was part of things he didn’t want to know, like Zayn had said? The entire encounter scared Liam away from searching anymore, and he headed back home, remembering to pick up a pie for dessert. 

 

It was another two weeks before Liam even thought about investigating again. He and Zayn had spent basically the entire time together, but now Zayn’s great grandparents were visiting and as Zayn put it, “They’re so old and have so little time left. I would hate to give them a heart attack because my soulmate is a man.” To which Liam hadn’t been offended or anything, he wanted to meet the family that would accept he and Zayn, his great grandparents weren’t even soulmates so they wouldn’t understand. 

Harry had come over to catch up on some much needed buddy time with Liam. They were going through his old lesson plans for the hundredth time, Harry asking the most minutiae of questions.

“It’s for my book Liam it has to be right.” Harry groaned and shuffled some papers around impatiently. 

 

“You look it over, I’ll get some more tea.” Any excuse to escape, Liam lept up to the kitchen and took his time getting the kettle ready. 

Liam came back to a very silent Harry.

 

“What is this Liam?” Harry held up a business card Liam had never seen before. 

 

“I dunno, what is it?” Liam took it.

AURA ANALYSIS   
-Counseling  
-Locating  
-& MORE  
It had a name and number that Liam didn’t recognise on the back. 

“It was in your jacket pocket Liam.” Harry said seriously then added “I was looking for research   
purposes.”

“Do you have a problem with Zayn?” Harry whispered like it was the biggest form of taboo. 

 

“What?! No! Of course not. He’s my soulmate.” Liam protested, almost ripping the card in half but   
changing his mind and sliding it into his back pocket. 

 

“Liam you know what those services are for right? People that haven’t found their soulmates, or   
have lost them, or worse. These people don’t want to help you Liam, you’re no good business if you already have a soulmate. Which you do.” Harry reminded him.

“Harry I’m not daft I know what they do. This isn’t my card.” Liam shook his head. 

“What if Zayn had found it instead of me? What then Liam?”

 

“I would tell him the same thing I told you!!! The truth!” Liam protested again, Harry was accusing   
him of not believing in the soulmate evolution, of not believing Zayn was his soulmate at all.   
Harry seemed to accept this and sighed. “Okay, but you’ve been acting super weird.” He went back to the plans. 

Liam stayed silent for a moment, watching him. 

“Uh...actually Harry I do want to tell you something. Best Friend Secret.” Liam said, meaning that what he was about to tell Harry could never come out of his mouth again, not even to Louis. 

Harry pushed the plans aside. “I knew it!”

 

Liam interrupted “But it’s nothing to do with not wanting to be with Zayn! You insane person.” 

Harry shrugged. “So what’s the Best Friend Secret?” He said, ignoring Liam’s play insult. 

 

Liam told him about the high school thing, about the picture, about what Zayn told him. 

“Obviously you won’t understand you’ve never been without Louis!” Liam groaned and slumped onto the couch. 

“Liam, that’s intense, and I agree that it’s abnormal. If you will accept my help in finding an actual place to figure this out, I would love to.” Harry said seriously.   
Liam nodded. 

The next day Harry came to Liam’s apartment bright and early, waking him up with breakfast.  
“Where are we going Harry?” Liam asked, half asleep in the car. 

 

“I found a place. Very secretive and professional.” Harry said, eyeing the same business card from yesterday that Liam was flipping between his fingers. They pulled up across the same alley Liam had been rejected from weeks earlier. 

 

“Harry I-” Liam realized he had been keeping that visit a secret from Harry too. 

“It’ll be fine Liam, the guy I talked to said he could help with your particular case.” Harry opened the door, ringing that familiar bell. A friendly and younger looking man came out from the back.  
“Ah yes you must be Harry, hello.” The man said flamboyantly. “Come on back you two.” He brought them to a very small attic with barely enough room for the table and three chairs around it. 

“You have such an interesting aura…” The man looked at Liam.

 

“Liam.” He offered his hand, which the guy shook. 

 

“I’m Neil.” He sat them down and asked them to explain the situation, all the while making notes   
and flipping through a book. 

“But there’s a picture of us from high school, we’re practically touching and I would remember seeing my soulmates aura, I didn’t see it then.” Liam said. Neil nodded and flipped to a back page of the book he was holding, _Aural Conditions,_ then froze. 

Liam and Harry looked at each other with wide eyes then back at Neil.

“Well, get on with it, what it is you have to say??” Liam said impatiently. 

 

Neil hesitated. “Well...you see Mr. Liam... it would appear all of this is happening because your soulmate is dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow update! I need serious inspiration for this story, so if you have any ideas please let me know!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW IT HAS BEEN SO LONG. Sorry everyone! Here's a new chapter :)
> 
>  
> 
> TW! Mentions of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and depression.

“Dead?!” Liam stood up so fast his chair toppled to the floor.   
Harry tried to get him to sit back down but Liam yanked his arm out of his grasp. 

“What do you mean? I have a soulmate are you blind?” Liam yelled at the poor shop worker. He did, right? Liam looked down at his body to be sure he wasn’t the crazy one. The purple aura was still very distinct and intact. 

“Mr. Liam if you’ll let me explain…” Liam raised an eyebrow but sat back down.   
“You have a soulmate now, that is correct, but they aren’t your original. Based on the information you have given me, your original soulmate died sometime between this high school picture and you meeting your current soulmate.”

Liam was super confused now. They way they taught it in schools was that everyone would have one soulmate for the rest of their lives. In college there had been courses that explored aura abnormalities and dove deeper into the evolutionary concept, but people didn’t like to talk about it, it was so rare to have an aura abnormality, Liam hadn’t ever met anyone. Generally if you had something wrong with your aura you were considered broken and inferior, considering it was evolution that had given humanity this tool. 

“Can you recall a period of depression or other illness during that time?” Neil inquired. 

Liam thought back, there was a period of time where his kidney disappeared then grew back, which the doctors chalked up to some mysterious condition that Liam accepted. He had also gone through a pretty severe depressive episode when he first finished college and still didn’t have a soulmate or a job. He just thought it was something everyone went through. He’d eventually gotten better when he had been holding a gun to his head and his new neighbor, Harry, had happened to bring him a welcoming gift to his apartment. He would never forget the horror -then determination- on Harry’s face. He basically owed his life to Harry, who was currently squeezing his arm comfortingly, seemingly remembering the same scene. He’d moved next to Liam as a surprise, knowing his old friend was lonely away from home, he just didn’t know it was so bad. There were so many coincidences and perfect timing around the situation, Harry hated to think about what it would’ve been like if he’d gone over to Liam’s a day later…   
It was horrific. Harry hadn’t ever seen someone so close to giving up, to wanting to let go. In his mind that situation wasn’t why they were friends, it was just the tragic way they had first met each other.   
Liam nodded. “Yeah I can remember some stuff during then.”

But that high school picture was taken almost 12 years ago and he just met Zayn less than a year ago. It was such a large expanse of time, wouldn’t these things happen to anyone? Doesn’t everyone go through depression at some point? 

Liam remembered the look in Harry’s eyes again and squeezed his own shut. No. He must have been in it bad. He remembered the night like it was yesterday, and not some odd 6 years ago.

_Everything was wrong and Liam didn’t know why. He felt a black hole hovering closer every day, sucking the joy out of every aspect of his life. When people asked him about after graduation he had had a hard time visualising himself doing anything. It was just sort of...blank. He didn’t have a job lined up, he had to stay in his dumpy apartment he could barely afford because he couldn’t afford to break the lease. He received rejection after rejection from jobs, and that kind of stuff wears you down. Liam wasn’t good at anything, he had no talent, no purpose, no passion. Sleep, worry, try to make money, repeat. Every day. Everything was a negative, if the sun was out it was purely because Liam had put on a sweater that morning and mother nature wanted to fuck with him. He could never do anything right and the world around him seemed to perpetuate that in particularly painful ways. His car seemed to know when he was late for important job interviews, and his landlord knew when he’d just spent his last five bucks on gas. Everything fucking sucked and dragged Liam along with it._

_It was a disease, it ravaged his mind and put his entire life on hold. It was a monster that he loved to indulge but didn’t realize was eating him alive._

_His best friends moved on after college and told him everything would be ok. But it wasn’t. And six months after graduation it wasn’t. And the black hole finally swallowed him. Buying the gun wasn’t a rash decision, he went through all the permits, classes, everything, waited to get the gun, and put it into his bedside table. He planned it meticulously, sure to get all of his affairs in order. He wrote a long letter to his parents, mainly begging them not to blame themselves when his brains were against the wall. He watched his favorite movie, cleaned out his fridge of perishables, unlocked his door and sat against the wall of his room. It was an apartment complex so he wasn’t worried about his body sitting in the room for days._

_Harry had been moved into the apartment next to Liam’s for a couple of days, settling in where he’d gone ahead and moved in while waiting on Louis to finish some business across the country. Louis said that Liam was living in a great place for cannabis sales, and Harry was writing a new book and needed the change in scenery, so the move was easy. He’d planned to have a surprise house warming party to surprise Liam but he kept missing important bills and was wondering if they happened to be going to Liam’s. Harry whipped up some cookies and dropped by Liam’s. When he knocked he could hear faint music, but no one answered the door. He tried the doorknob, and him being himself decided to walk in where he saw his oldest friend collapsed against a wall with shaking hands and a gun lodged between his teeth. Liam had started sobbing as soon as he saw Harry, who confidently flipped the safety on the gun and pried it out of Liam’s tense hands. And that probably wasn’t even the hardest part for Liam. It was the days after where he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d failed and being alive was somehow wrong for him. Luckily Harry stayed around constantly cooking for him and providing the much needed company and perspective he needed._

Neil had a sad smile on his face. “What you were experiencing was probably the death of your soulmate, the after effects. Most people don’t survive it. But I suspect you did because you hadn’t met them yet. This is rare, but when it happens evolution selects a new soulmate, someone who was unpaired. Didn’t they teach you this in school?” 

Harry started giving Neil an explanation while the word just echoed in Liam’s head. 

_Unpaired_

“Unpaired? How does that happen?” Liam interrupted leaning forward toward Neil. 

Neil hesitated. “It….I imagine it hasn’t been an easy life for your soulmate.” 

Liam was imagining Zayn going through the same thing he had back then and physically felt a pang, something Zayn felt all the way back home. 

“So Zayn’s my soulmate because mine died and he didn’t have one?” Liam asked bluntly, getting tired of Neil trying to avoid bruising his feelings. He was a man. He could take it.   
Neil nodded slowly and was about to say some other inane thing

“Why didn’t he have one.” He blinked impatiently. 

“Why does anything happen in evolution?” Neil asked back, just as impatiently and when Liam didn’t answer right away he continued. 

 

“Because only the strong survive. Only the ones nature intended.”

Liam felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. To hear someone talk about his soulmate like that was so infuriating, he felt the anger coursing through his veins and he stood up.   
“Fuck you.”

“My mother warned you.” Neil said simply and watched Liam storm out, followed by a very apologetic Harry who tossed some money on the table. 

Liam was silent the entire ride back, staring directly out the window. “Take me to Zayn’s.” He said as they turned the corner to Liam’s house. 

Harry inwardly groaned in a, you could’ve told me that before I drove all the way here, kind of way but continued down the road. 

Zayn was chain smoking out the window, switching between cigarettes and his lit joint. The stress from not knowing what was going on with Liam was killing him, and the man not answering his texts wasn’t helping. There was a light knock on the door and Zayn threw himself through it, knowing it was his soulmate on the other side. 

Liam relaxed instantly once Zayn was in his arms, “Oh, baby.” Liam kissed the top of his head. 

“Stop worrying.” He whispered into his hair. “I’m fine.”   
Liam had no plans to tell anyone what happened in that room.   
The younger man dragged his boyfriend over to the couch. “What was going on, Liam? You seemed...so...angry?” Zayn looked through his dark and slightly watery eyes to Liam’s warm and slightly tense brown ones. 

“Don’t worry about it baby, please. I’m so sorry you felt that. It was nothing. Are you okay?” he wrapped a strong arm around his waist and pulled him closer, just wanting to touch him, to reassure him that everything was fine. Everything was going to be fine now that they found each other, and Liam would never ever let Zayn feel that way again. So empty, void of any happiness… Liam squeezed his eyes shut and pulled him even closer. He wanted to touch as much as possible. Zayn stroked his thumb over the crease between Liam’s eyebrows and kissed the top of his head, a little distressed by the change in Liam’s demeanor but happy to have him so close.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liam kept his secret for the next two months. He also stayed at Zayn’s most of the time, even when he was working. He wanted his soulmate to be as comfortable as possible, he was overcome with guilt that he had doubted anything they had ever done. He had also been in some sort of weird funk since the meeting months ago, it felt weird knowing your soulmate was dead. And every time he had one of these thoughts he was forced to rethink it as, his _first_ soulmate, which was so weird in and of itself. Growing up he was taught there was no flexibility, everyone was made for someone and only that someone. Ever. 

Liam eventually let himself try to forget about it, devoting himself to his true soulmate, and it worked. He felt an insanely strong draw to Zayn, could sometimes even guess what they were doing in his class based on Zayn’s mood. He found out Zayn hates mornings and loves doughnuts for breakfast, that he fits perfectly into the curve of Liam’s body when they’re laying down. They haven’t done much intimate yet but Liam couldn’t ever resist touching Zayn in some way all the time. He understood finally that Harry and Louis’ love wasn’t just a product of being forced together over so many years over what Liam had previously thought was a semi bullshit concept. He understood that there was a draw, you couldn't stay away. 

Liam was able to forget until school was almost out for the summer. He was so excited because he, Zayn, Harry, and Louis were all going to a cabin on the lake for a week or so as soon as school was over for the teachers. He was able to forget until Zayn stopped texting him back, and didn’t meet up with him for lunch, no explanation. Liam bolted during the end of his lunch break when it was obvious Zayn wasn’t going to show. He drove to where Zayn taught and asked them to page him to the office. Liam sat nervously, wondering if Zayn had news or if something bad had happened. When he caught his soulmate’s eye through the glass windows he lit up but Zayn frowned. 

“What are you doing here Liam? I need to get back to class.” A coldness that Liam didn’t recognize was seeping through Zayn’s calm demeanor. 

 

“Babe I was so worried, you wouldn’t answer my texts I thought something happened.” Liam said hurriedly. “Not here.” Zayn said and pulled Liam outside into the parking lot. 

“What’s up Zayn, seriously? Is something wrong, did something happen?” He asked, brow knit together in obvious worry. 

Zayn paused for a moment, not relishing the moment, he hated to see Liam like this and it made him want to bend and forgive right away but he held firm and reached into his pocket. 

 

“I dunno Liam, did something happen??” Zayn asked and held up the shiny paper rectangle.  
The sun caught it in a glare before Liam was able to read it, then he recognized the logo immediately and his stomach dropped. 

 

AURA ANALYSIS   
-Counseling  
-Locating  
-& MORE

Liam cursed himself for not shredding the fucking thing the minute he got back from that stupid meeting. “Z I can explain.” He pleaded, feeling the hurt Zayn was feeling but knowing underneath that Zayn wanted to forgive him.

Zayn’s eyes filled up with tears and he threw the card at Liam’s feet.   
“Then explain!! Do you hate me Liam? You wish we weren’t paired??” Zayn sobbed at him angrily. These aura places were very taboo, especially in their town and country, because they represented unhappiness. If you were content with your soulmate, auras, and all that you would never acknowledge these places. They were places for people who hated their soulmates, which was rare, for people who needed help coping. They weren’t supposed to be places for people who love their lives and their soulmates. 

“I promise it’s not what you think…” Liam started and took both of Zayn’s hands. Zayn pulled them away in anger but mostly because they were shaking and Zayn didn’t want Liam to know how scared he was. Scared that they weren’t meant to be, afraid of what happened at the meeting. He had been wondering the same things as Liam since the yearbook photo but was also very content with his soulmate and the auras were all correct so he didn’t think much of it. But there was still a nagging fear that he wasn’t good enough. Why would he been good enough for Liam?

Liam watched tears well up in his soulmate’s eyes and felt crushed. “I went because I was curious about the picture Zayn. I’m sorry. I never doubted that you were my soulmate for an instant.” Liam placed one of Zayn’s hands over his heart. “I know you feel it, and you know I feel it. We’re meant to be, babe. Absolutely.” 

“Then what happened?” Zayn whispered.   
Liam shook his head and sat them down on the couch. “It’s weird to explain…” he didn’t want to put any doubt in Zayn’s head that they were meant to be soulmates, but telling him about his previous soulmate would do just that. Liam was torn. He couldn’t lie to Zayn. 

“Did you know soulmates aren’t...perfect?” He tried and watched Zayn’s reaction, it was stoic. 

When Zayn didn’t say anything Liam continued. 

“Did you know they could change? If there were the right circumstances?”

 

“What the fuck are you talking about Liam?” Zayn pleaded. “Please just tell me.”

Liam let out a breath and leaned back into the couch, staring down the ceiling like it was the reason for all of this. “I was born with a different soulmate, Zayn. They died.” The last part was barely choked out because although Liam hadn’t ever met the person, he still felt twinges of that depression, the dark place. 

“What do you mean? You had one...before me?” Zayn didn’t even know that was possible. 

Liam recounted everything the analyst had told him, downplaying his depression a bit so Zayn wouldn’t take it the wrong way, or be hurt by it. He also left out where Neil had told him that basically the world didn’t want Zayn to survive. 

“And I promise Zayn. I will never, ever let you feel pain like that again. I’m here forever. Right here, just for you.” Liam finally looked at him and saw the tears drying against his cheeks.   
“Oh Liam. I’m so sorry.” Zayn cried and launched himself into Liam’s lap. 

“You’re my soulmate. Forever.” Liam said again and kissed his boyfriend’s head.


End file.
